November 28, 2012

Still Looking to Merge, T-Mobile Hires Lobbyists with Brownstein Hyatt

As T-Mobile USA Inc.
tries to combine with another wireless carrier, the company has hired a team of
lobbyists from a law firm that fought against its now-scrapped merger with
AT&T Inc.

Brownstein Hyatt Farber
Schreck notified Congress last week that it is advocating for T-Mobile on its
plan to merge with MetroPCS Communications Inc., according to lobbying
registration paperwork. For Dish Network Corp.-affiliated Coalition for Mobile
Wireless, the law firm in 2011 lobbied against AT&T's proposed $39 billion
acquisition of T-Mobile, which Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG owns. Brownstein
received $240,000 from the group, according to congressional records.

Firm Chairman Norman
Brownstein and shareholders Allen Grunes, Marc Lampkin, Alfred Mottur and
Manuel Ortiz are handling the T-Mobile account. Except for Brownstein, all of
the lobbyists keep offices in Washington. Brownstein is based in Denver.

Grunes and Mottur, a
co-chairman of the firm's government relations department, previously lobbied
for the Coalition for Mobile Wireless Competition. Ortiz declined to comment.

Under the merger agreement announced on October 3,
Deutsche Telekom shareholders would have a 74 percent stake in the combined
company, which would be called T-Mobile. Deutsche Telekom would pay $1.5
billion to MetroPCS shareholders, who would own 26 percent of the company.
MetroPCS and T-Mobile expect the deal to close during the first half of 2013.

Bellevue, Wash.-based
T-Mobile, the fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier, spent $3.9 million on
federal lobbying during the first three quarters of this year, according to
congressional records. For its government advocacy, T-Mobile has used its own
staffers and lobbyists at about a dozen firms, including Cassidy &
Associates, Quinn Gillespie & Associates and Miller & Chevalier.

MetroPCS, the
fifth-largest U.S. cellphone service provider, has lobbyists, too. The
Richardson, Texas-based company spent $220,000 on federal government affairs
work during the first three quarters of this year. MetroPCS has deployed
lobbyists from ML Strategies, Telecommunications Law Professionals and
TeleMedia Policy.